Chunks: Superior memory of experts
WHAT CAN A CHESS GRANDMASTER teach us about memory?
Chess has been popular research topic which has allowed theorists to study the limits of human memory capacity by comparing chess grand masters’ ability to store and retrieve information with novice chess players.
How do they do it?
Chess grand masters have demonstrated their extraordinary abilities by simultaneously playing hundreds of boards and winning them all. One grand master said, “I see only one move ahead, but it is always the correct one.”
Chess Grand Masters have access to roughly 50,000 to 100,000 pieces of chess information.
Chess grand masters rely more on their structured knowledge than on extended analysis. It’s the first few seconds of thought that make the different between a novice and a grand master (Ericcson). This rapid, knowledge guided perception, apperception, is a model for studying the limits of memory (Simon). How do chess grand masters overcome the limits of memory to achieve their vast storehouses of information?
Meaningful chunks
Miller (1956) described short-term memory as a small waiting room leading into long-term memory; only about seven items could be in a short-term room at a time. If one more item was attempted, it wouldn’t find any room or previous items would have to fall out or move into long term memory. Miller described how chess grand masters can overcome the magic number 7 by proposisng that the information need not be single items but rather could be “chunks.”
Roll over image to compare relative size and complexity of novice chunk of information with expert's.
Chase and Simon (1973) extended Miller's theory and said that information was stored in the brain in chunks. They also said chunks can be arranged in highly organized, intricately structured and complex systems of meaningful patterns and templates and could be recalled as a single unit. Novices have collections of individual pieces stored in memory while grand masters have collections of familiar meta-configurations. Because expert memory is an indexed collection of these units, chunks are treated as single items in long term memory and can be stored and retrieved in one action.
Cognitive load for the expert and the novice
A chess grand master can recall a complex board set-up after only a few seconds of examination while novices could only recall a few details after 30 seconds of exposure to the same set-up because grand masters can search more deeply along the branching trees of possible moves (Gobbet and Clarkson, 2004). A novice sees 20 chess pieces and thousands of possible chunks. A grand master sees the same board within the context of larger patterns of information: the entire setup could be perceived in 5 or 6 chunks.
Instructional design and cognitive load
Gladwell in his book Blink (2005), calls it “adaptive unconscious” and says we all have “rapid cognition” to some extent. Expert performers such as chess masters provide deeper insights into the limits of cognitive load and memory. If expert memory systems can be more precisely described, predictions might be refined for the benefit of improved instructional design.
Fink, Diana, (2006). Chunks: Superior memory of experts. In B. Hoffman (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Educational Technology. Retrieved from